Pages

Monday, July 3, 2017

Denver Chalk Art Festival, 2017

On a June weekend for the past 15 years, the streets around Larimer Square in Denver, Colorado, are transformed into colorful artworks by over 200 professional and amateur artists in a free event called the Denver Chalk Art Festival. I went to the festival a few years ago--see that post here--and felt it was time to revisit it again this year.

The dedicated artists spend two days completing their works, all the time on their hands and knees, and most in the bright sun.

They first draw an outline of their design in proportion using a pencil or charcoal pastel. Then they begin to lay the base of colors and then add shading, contrast and depth.

The subjects of their artwork can be reproduction of a famous art work or ones they imagine themselves.

The idea of street chalk art began long ago in 16th century Renaissance Italy, when artists of the era began creating temporary masterpieces in the piazzas (streets) as passerby's would toss them a coin or two. Very often their artwork was of the Madonna (Mary), and so the artists became known as "madonnari."

The tradition was revitalized in Italy in the 1970's when the small town of Grazie di Curtatone started the first international street painting competition and other areas around the world soon followed. This is Denver's 15th annual competition, and every year it grows more popular.

Not only do attendees get to walk around and watch the artworks being made, there was also food for sale, wine tasting tents, music, and an art gallery and a children's corner where they could also draw on the ground to their hearts content.

So, are you ready to see some of this year's chalk artwork?

My favorite

I made as many images into collages --to see the details click on to enlarge each set.

This one had a very three dimensional effect!

I hope you enjoyed seeing the array of different chalk artwork! If you'd like to know who the winners were, you can find them in this article in 303 Magazine--click here.Voting is done by a panel of 3 judges, and there is also a People's Choice award that is done through text messaging the artist's number to the judges. Winners are awarded a plaque for the category they were chosen for such as Best of Show, Most Colorful, Most Whimsical and Youth Challenge.

Although beautiful, the artwork is erased the day after the festival by special street sweepers to prevent any of the chalk residue from entering nearby Cherry Creek. The artists look at the process of creating their artwork as performance art, with the process more important than the final result. They enjoy the interaction and comments of attendees to the festival and that is the reward for many!

Performance art I like that expression - I would have to get into that different headspace for sure as it seems sad to be washed away after all that hard work. I also agree with you on your favourite but It doesn't look like they were a winner? What a wonderful thing to be able to do, I'm sure mine would be a smudgy mess, they are very talented.Wren x

Love your favorite! Not easy to do, because people look at it from an angle, not straight, like with paintings on the wall! Hope "someone" psys them for their effort, because pastel is not cheap between $3-6 per stick, depending on the brand. Will come back later to see more details. Many thanks for sharing their art experience with All Seasons, Pat, and wish I could be there! Have a beautiful week!

Pat, we have a similar event in our town and we always try to attend. I love it when we have artists recreating famous paintings. Your event is much larger as I see many beautiful chalk drawings. It would be hard to choose, but I do like the "aquarium look" one with the pink fish with the heron? standing on its back. Lovely post. ♥

Pat - thank you so much for this post. I know I will go back and look at this again and again because there is so much to see. I have a hard time deciding a favorite without going back and studying them thoroughly, so I will just go with my initial impression and choose the peacock!!! The 3-D one was also a stand-out.

I like this so much! There is a chalk festival in the town I live but the works are not even close to what is done in Denver. I would love to attend a festival like this (art festivals are a favorite of mine).

I enjoyed this so much Pat! Especially the 3-D looking one; cannot imagine how they do that. It's very Zen creating such beauty on a temporary basis -- art for the sake of creating, not collecting! I love this idea, but on the other hand I'm glad you got photo before they were swept away.

I am getting ready to post about our visit to Royal Gorge and Canon City and wanted to thank you for your post about it which reminded me of this fascinating Colorado place that we'd missed on all of our previous visits. Many thanks as always for everything I've learned from you!!

This is so interesting to me and I am so glad I found your blog! We missed a chalk festival just yesterday in a town about an hour and a half away. There were threatening thunderstorms here and we didn't want to drive there to find it canceled. It never rained, so we missed it! We did go to a local arts festival and there was one girl doing street chalk art there. It is phenomenal what the artists can do. My favorite is the same as yours. The girl....her skin looks amazing!

So much artistic talent in one place! The chalk drawings are amazing! I live in Savannah, GA where the students from Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) put on a similar sidewalk chald-art festival every year. I'm always blown away. Thank you for linking up at #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty. I’m sharing your link on social media.Carol (“Mimi”) from Home with Mimi

Those are incredibly, incredibly beautiful! It is hard for me to imagine that people are that talented. I would be drawing stick people! Its too hard to pick just one! Thank you so much for sharing this at the #BloggingGrandmothersLinkParty!

Bloglovin

Follow by Email

Subscribe To Mille Fiori Favoriti

I Tweet! Do you? Please Follow Me!

Translate

About Me

Hello and welcome!
I'm Pat, a lifelong New Yorker who has recently moved to a suburb of Denver in the beautiful state of Colorado, so that I can live close to my children and grandchildren. I look forward to learning many new things about my new "mile high" city and I will share them on my blog.
New York City will always be my second home, and I will also continue to share many posts about it.
My blog's name in Italian means a "Thousand Favorite Flowers." I chose this unusual blog name because researching and writing for my blog, and taking photogrpahs for it, is like another "memory flower" that I am collecting in my bouquet of life.
I hope you will enjoy your visit to my blog and that you will leave a comment so that I know you've been here.
Thanks!

My Grandchildren

.Why I blog

We write to taste life twice. Once in the moment, And once in retrospection. ~ Anais Nin

Why I blog:

"I write to discover what I know" ~ Flannery O'Connor

Rocky Mountain National Park

“Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop away from you like the leaves of Autumn.” ― John Muir, Our National Parks

Colorado

You can fall in love at first sight with a place as with a person ~ Alec Waugh

Mt Evans

I was uplifted above a world of love, hate, and storms of passion, for I was calm amidst the eternal silences, bathing in the living blue. For peace rested that one bright day on the mountaintop. ~ Isabella Bird "A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains"

RMNP

"Life is your art. An open, aware heart is your camera. A oneness with your world is your film." ~Ansel Adams

Rocky Mountain National Park

“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” ~Roald Dahl

Rocky Mountain National Park

And our first pure mountain day, warm, calm, cloudless, - how immeasurable it seems, how serenely wild! I can scarcely remember its beginning. Along the river, over the hills, in the ground, in the sky, spring work is going on with joyful enthusiasm, new life, new beauty, unfolding, unrolling in glorious exuberant extravagance, - new birds in their nests, new winged creatures in the air, and new leaves, new flowers, spreading, shining, rejoicing everywhere. - John Muir

Colorado Beauty

“Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate, and though I oft have passed them by, a day will come at last when I shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun.” - J.R.R. Tolkien,

Bethesda Fountain in Central Park, NY

Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time. ~Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

My hometown: Brooklyn, NY

"Every day I walk out into the world to be dazzled, then to be reflective." ~ Mary Oliver

Featured on You Are A Star Blog Hop

I've been featured on:

I've been featured on:

My buddy Bo

1998 - 2013 I still miss those I loved who are no longer with me, but I find I am grateful for having loved them. The gratitude has finally conquered the loss.